Hey Andy, you don't know me. perhaps some day we will meet. I do have some information on this disease. A good friend of mine just went through the cycle. It was very scary... it started with a back ache, loss of motor control, stumbled, fell ended up in a medivac helicopter, his condition deteriorated while they were trying to figure out what was going on,in fact he was on a ventilator for a while. His recovery was textbook, as they say it is in most cases.... the duration of the recovery is what comes in to question. His was 5 weeks from his last day of work to his return. There is one thing that you might consider, while my friend was recovering they had people who had actually recovered from the disease come and sit with him, talk him through it from actual experience. He said that was the most important thing that happened for him. He told me after they discovered what was wrong his symptoms got worse before they got better... It will be scary for your son, you can bet his recovery will be full and in the not to distant future... reassure that boy constantly good luck